Device and method for communication

ABSTRACT

A product for electronic transmission of handwritten information, a user unit for recording and sending the information, and a computer program for controlling a user unit are disclosed. The product may include at least one writing area for the handwritten information and an address area indicating an address to which the handwritten information is to be sent. A position-coding pattern in the form of a plurality of symbols may be reproduced in the writing area, an arbitrary position area of a predetermined size of the position-coding pattern unambiguously defining a position on the product. The address area may include an address-coding pattern with a plurality of symbols, an arbitrary address portion of a predetermined size of the address-coding pattern unambiguously defining part of the address.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority benefits based on Swedish PatentApplication No. 0000940-7, filed Mar. 21, 2000, and U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 60/208,166, filed May 31, 2000, the technicaldisclosures of both of which are hereby incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus forelectronically transmitting handwritten information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The amount of information transmitted electronically hasincreased in recent years. Most of the information transmittedelectronically has been generated by means of a computer. There is,however, a great need for electronically transmitting information thathas been generated in some other way than by means of computers. Forinstance, there is a need for transmitting handwritten information inconnection with the filling-in of a form. A further example when thereis a need for transmitting handwritten information involvesadvertisements in newspapers. Advertisements in newspapers sometimeshave a writing area for handwritten information and a fax number towhich the advertisement can be sent.

[0004] For a long time the only possibility of sending handwritteninformation was to use a fax machine. An alternative is to use a scannerfor converting the information to a digital image, which can then betransmitted via a computer communication link or via the telephonenetwork. U.S. Patent No. 5,852,434 discloses a method for enteringhandwritten information by means of a pen and a base with a coordinatepattern. When writing on the base, the pen records the movement andstores it as positions.

[0005] Independently of how the information is entered, a manual step isnecessary when transmitting the information.

[0006] There is thus a need for an alternative method and a device formore easily transmitting handwritten information such as handwrittentext.

SUMMARY OF A FEW ASPECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0007] There is provided a product for electronic transmission ofhandwritten information comprising at least one writing area for thehandwritten information. The writing area comprises a position-codingpattern comprising a plurality of first symbols. An arbitrary positionarea of a predetermined first size of the position-coding patternunambiguously defines a position on the product.

[0008] The product further provides an address area indicating anaddress to which the handwritten information is to be sent. The addressarea comprises an address-coding pattern comprising a plurality ofsecond symbols. An arbitrary address portion of a predetermined secondsize of the address-coding pattern unambiguously defines part of theaddress.

[0009] There is further provided a method for entering handwritteninformation and transmitting the handwritten information. The methodcomprising reading an input signal corresponding to a recorded image,converting the recorded image to at least one position and storing theposition based on a position-coding pattern corresponding to therecorded image; converting the recorded image to at least one characterand storing the character based on an address-coding patterncorresponding to the recorded image, and transmitting stored positionsto an address corresponding to characters stored in the memory.

[0010] Still further, there is provided a user unit for electronictransmission of handwritten information comprising a reading headadapted to optically record images from a surface; a memory; means forconverting the recorded image to at least one position and storing theposition in the memory based on a position-coding pattern contained inthe recorded image which codes at least one position; means forconverting the recorded image to at least one character and storing thecharacter in the memory based on an address-coding pattern contained inthe recorded image which codes at least one character, and means fortransmitting at least part of positions stored in the memory to anaddress corresponding to characters stored in the memory.

[0011] The foregoing summarizes only a few aspects of the invention andis not intended to be reflective of the full scope of the invention asclaimed. Additional features and advantages of the invention are setforth in the following description, may be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by practicing the invention. Moreover,both the foregoing general description and the following detaileddescription are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to providefurther explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in andconstitute a part of this specification, illustrate several embodimentsof the invention and together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention. The figures are not according to scale andsome dimensions are greatly exaggerated to show more clearly specificfeatures of the invention.

[0013]FIG. 1 illustrates a product according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

[0014]FIG. 2 shows a user unit and a communication device according toan embodiment of the present invention.

[0015]FIG. 3 shows symbols according to a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

[0016]FIG. 4 shows a sequence that is used to code the coding patternsaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0017]FIGS. 5a and 5 b illustrate a conversion of the address-codingpattern to an address in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

[0018]FIG. 6 shows a conversion of part of the position-coding patternto positions in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0019]FIG. 7 shows an example of a fundamental composition of an addressarea in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0020]FIG. 8 shows schematically an ordering operation in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

[0021]FIG. 9 shows a conversion of part of the address-coding field atdifferent heights in the address area in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention.

[0022]FIG. 10 shows schematically an address area according to analternative embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0023] A product for electronic transmission of handwritten informationaccording to the present invention may be used in connection with atleast one writing area for the handwritten information and an addressarea, which indicates an address where the handwritten information is tobe transmitted. The product may be characterized in that aposition-coding pattern in the form of a plurality of symbols may bereproduced in the writing area. Furthermore, an arbitrary position areaof a predetermined size of the position-coding pattern may unambiguouslydefine a position on the product. Still further, the address area mayinclude an address-coding pattern with a plurality of symbols wherein anarbitrary address portion of a predetermined size of the address-codingpattern unambiguously defines part of the address.

[0024] The product including a writing area and/or address area mayinclude a sheet of paper in a newspaper but may also include aninformation board. Indeed, the invention in its broadest sense is notlimited to any particular form of product.

[0025] Position-coding patterns are known from, for instance, U.S. Pat.No. 5,852,434. In the present invention, a writing area with aposition-coding pattern makes it possible to enter information in thewriting area with a user unit while at the same time record a positionsequence corresponding to the movement of an information reader, such asa pen. As a result, the handwritten information may be recorded whilebeing written on the sheet of paper. Since the address area contains anaddress-coding pattern, it may be possible to read the address where thehandwritten information is to be sent by recording the information witha user unit adapted to enter the address-coding pattern and theposition-coding pattern. The position-coding pattern may thus define alarge number of positions, with each position being associated with adifferent part of the writing area.

[0026] The size of the position area required to unambiguously determinea position from the position-coding pattern may be advantageously atleast the same as the size of the address area required to unambiguouslydetermine part of the address from the address-coding pattern. It maytherefore be possible to adapt a user unit to the position-codingpattern without taking the address-coding pattern into consideration.

[0027] The part of the address to be unambiguously determined may be anindividual character. The decoding operation may be simple with theaddress portion of a predetermined size of the address-coding patternunambiguously defining a character.

[0028] It is within the scope of the invention that certain characterscorrespond to a special command. For instance, a character mayconstitute information about how the information is to be transmitted.Thus, one character may signify that the information is to be sent byelectronic mail and another character may signify that the informationis to be sent by fax.

[0029] The address area may contain information that defines acommunication medium to be used for the transmission of the handwritteninformation. If the address area does not contain such information, auser unit can interpret the information in the address area and thusestablish which communication medium to use. For example, all addressescontaining the character “@” are interpreted as electronic mailaddresses.

[0030] The position-coding pattern may define positions within a partialcode area, which is part of a larger virtual code area, the address areacontaining information that defines the coordinates for at least part ofthe writing area.

[0031] The position-coding pattern on different products codesadvantageously different partial code areas. As a result, a user unitrecording the address can determine which handwritten information is tobe sent to the address. A user can write on a plurality of products inparallel without any risk that the written information is mixed up.Different companies can then reserve different partial code areas.

[0032] The address-coding pattern may contain a plurality of sequenceportions with symbols, with an address portion for defining part of theaddress containing sequence portions of a predetermined number and apredetermined length. By the symbols being arranged in sequenceportions, the recording and interpretation of the pattern may befacilitated.

[0033] Each of the sequence portions comprises at least one subsequenceof a predetermined length of a sequence, where each subsequence mayunambiguously define a sequence value that corresponds to the positionof the subsequence in the sequence. As a result, the subsequences may beeasily converted to sequence values.

[0034] The difference between the sequence value defined by asubsequence of a first sequence portion and the sequence value definedby a subsequence of a second sequence portion may be constantindependently of from which parts of the sequence portions thesubsequences are selected when the subsequences are fetched fromcorresponding parts of the sequence portions. By using differencesbetween sequence portions, the address-coding pattern may be independentof which parts of the address-coding pattern are recorded. If thesequence portions are arranged in columns in a matrix, theaddress-coding pattern will be insensitive to at what height in thecolumns the address-coding pattern is recorded.

[0035] The difference value, which corresponds to the difference betweensequence values from different sequence portions, can be represented asa binary value. A first part of the binary value may represent acharacter and a second part of the binary value may code a sequenceposition for the sequence portions in the matrix.

[0036] By the difference value coding a sequence position, the recordingof the address may be facilitated since it may then be possible torecord different parts of the address on different occasions and get thecomplete address together by means of the sequence positions. This mayresult in robust inputting. It may be thus possible to record differentparts of the address-coding pattern on different occasions and puttogether the entire address by means of the sequence positions.

[0037] The symbols in the address-coding pattern may advantageously havea size different from that of the symbols in the position-codingpattern. Alternatively, the symbols in the address-coding pattern may bearranged with an interspace that is different from that of the symbolsin the position-coding pattern. A user unit may thus be able to easilydistinguish the address-coding pattern and the position-coding pattern.

[0038] It goes without saying that it is possible for the two patternsto differ from each other merely by the information they code. A userunit may have to then interpret the information represented by thepatterns before it can determine whether it is a position-coding patternor an address-coding pattern. The address-coding pattern cannot beinterpreted as positions since the positions to which they are thendecoded will not be associated with each other, which is the case of theposition-coding pattern.

[0039] The address area may also code a public key, the receiverspecified by the address being capable of decoding a message that hasbeen coded by means of the public key. This may facilitate theencryption of the message that has been written manually in the writingarea.

[0040] By using the above-mentioned sequences for coding theaddress-coding pattern, it may be possible to store long encryption keysin the address.

[0041] The address-coding pattern may alternatively be divided into aplurality of code fields, each of which corresponding to a character. Anarbitrary address portion on the address-coding pattern may mean thatthe address portion is associated with one code field only. Each codefield can, for example, define a specific code area on a virtualsurface. The partial code areas on the virtual surface may then in turnbe associated with different characters.

[0042] According to another embodiment, the address-coding pattern maybe a bar code. However, it may not be possible to provide a bar codethat can be recorded on several occasions. Besides, a bar code might beless compact.

[0043] If the address-coding pattern is divided into code fields,separating fields preferably separate the code fields. The code fieldsbeing separated by separating fields may facilitate the identificationof the different code fields.

[0044] A user unit for electronic transmission of handwritteninformation according to the invention may include a reading head and amemory, and may be adapted to optically record images from a surface bymeans of the reading head. The user unit may also be adapted to convertthe recorded image to at least one position and store the position inthe memory based on a position-coding pattern, which codes at least oneposition, contained in the recorded image. Further, the user unit mayconvert the recorded image to at least one character and store thecharacter in the memory based on an address-coding pattern, which codesat least one character, contained in the recorded image. Still further,the user unit may transmit at least part of the positions stored in thememory to an address corresponding to the characters stored in thememory. Handwritten information can thus easily be transmitted to apredetermined address by means of a user unit according to theinvention.

[0045] A product according to the invention, together with a user unitaccording to the invention, can be used, for example, to order articles.A user may input an order for articles together with the user's address.When the receiver, defined by the address, receives the message, thereceiver may send the ordered articles to the inputted address.

[0046] There are a number of alternatives to the way the recording ofimages may be initiated. According to one embodiment of the invention,the user unit comprises a pen point. The user unit is then adapted torecord images as the pen point is being pressed against a surface.

[0047] The user unit may be adapted to convert a first part ofcharacters stored in the memory to an address and a second part ofcharacters stored in the memory to writing-area information defining awriting area, and to send only positions contained in the writing areato the address. This may prevent information that has been recorded onsurfaces other than the writing area from being sent to the address.

[0048] The user unit may be adapted to attach recorded images of theaddress-coding pattern to a set of sequence portions, to convert the setof the sequence portions to a set of sequence values, and to convert thesequence values to characters by means of information stored in thememory.

[0049] The user unit may be adapted to attach an identification numberwhen sending information to the address, the identification number beingunique for each user unit. This permits identification of the user unit.

[0050] A computer can read a memory medium according to the invention. Acomputer program can be stored on the memory medium and can be used forinputting handwritten information and electronically transmitting theinformation. The computer program may be characterized in that itcontains instructions for making the computer read an input signalcorresponding to a recorded image, convert the recorded image to atleast one position and store the position in response to the fact thatthe recorded image corresponds to a position-coding pattern, convert therecorded image to at least one character and store the character inresponse to the fact that the recorded image corresponds to anaddress-coding pattern, and transmit the stored positions to an addresscorresponding to the characters stored in the memory.

[0051] The above features can be combined in the same embodiment.

[0052]FIG. 1 shows a product according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. The product may be a sheet of paper 1, which comprises awriting area 2 and an address area 3. According to one embodiment of thepresent invention, the sheet of paper 1 is a page in a publication suchas a newspaper. The writing area 2 comprises a position-coding patternthat may consist of a plurality of position symbols 4 arranged in amatrix. The position symbols 4 in FIG. 1 are greatly exaggerated inrespect of size. A first arbitrary position area 5 of the writing area 2unambiguously defines a position on the sheet. The address area 3comprises an address-coding pattern with a plurality of address symbols6. The address symbols 6 are larger than the position symbols 4, whichmake it possible to easily distinguish the different patterns. Anarbitrary address portion 20 of the address area 3 may define acharacter. The position-coding pattern and the address-coding patternmay thus have the property that if an arbitrary part of the pattern of acertain minimum size is recorded, a position and a character,respectively, may be unambiguously defined. Coding pattern examples willbe described in more detail below.

[0053] The position-coding pattern can be of the type as disclosed inthe above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,434, where each position iscoded by a specific symbol. However, the position-coding pattern may beadvantageously of the type disclosed in Applicant's PCT applications WO00/73983, PCT/SE00/01895, and WO 01/16691 (the technical disclosures ofwhich are hereby incorporated in this application by reference), whereeach position is coded by a plurality of symbols and each symbolcontributes to the coding of several positions.

[0054] The position-coding pattern may be made up of a small number ofsymbol types. An example is disclosed in WO 00/73983, where a larger dotrepresents a “one” and a smaller dot represents a “zero”. Anotherexample is disclosed in PCT/SE00/01895, where four differentdisplacements of a dot in relation to a raster point code four differentvalues.

[0055]FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a user unit 14 adapted to recordimages from a surface. The user unit 14 comprises a light-emitting diode7 for illuminating the surface to be recorded, an image sensor 8 in theform of a CCD for recording images, an image-processing means 9 and amemory 10. The user unit 14 may further include a battery 12 forsupplying power to the reading head and buttons 13 for turning on thereading head. FIG. 2 also shows a communication device 15 in the form ofa computer which may be disconnected from the user unit 14 and which maybe connected to a network via cables 18, 19. In this case, the networkis the public telephone network but could also be an internal network.The user unit 14 may be provided with a transmitter 16 for transmittingrecorded information. The user unit 14 may transmit information to thecommunication device 15 that may transmit the information by the publictelephone network. In the latter case, the user unit 14 may be a mobileunit in a mobile communication system and which transmits information tothe mobile communication system by means of the transmitter 16. The userunit 14 may also include a pen point 21 for a user to enter information.The pen point 21 may be pressure-sensitive and connected to theimage-processing means 9. When the pen point 21 is pressed against abase, recording of an image may be initiated. Thus, recording of imagesmay be initiated when a user enters information in the writing area 2.The communication device 15 may be provided with a receiver 17 forreceiving information from the user unit 14. The transmitter 16 and thereceiver 17 may communicate, for example, by using IR or radio waves.

[0056] According to an alternative embodiment, the transmitter 16 mayconstitute a communication device which communicates with the worldaround via a mobile telephone system. The user unit 14 may thenconstitute a mobile unit in a mobile telephone system.

[0057]FIGS. 3a-d show an embodiment of a symbol that can be used in thematrix in FIG. 1 according to the invention. The symbol comprises avirtual raster point 28, which is represented by the intersectionbetween the raster lines, and a marking 29, which has the form of apoint. The value of the symbol depends on where the marking 29 islocated. In the example in FIG. 3, there are four possible locations,one on each of the raster lines extending from the raster points. Thedisplacement from the raster point is the same for all values. Thesymbol has in FIG. 3a the value 0, in FIG. 3b the value 1, in FIG. 3cthe value 2, and in FIG. 3d the value 3. In other words, there are fourdifferent kinds of symbols. Each symbol can thus represent one of fourvalues “0-3”.

[0058]FIG. 4 illustrates a sequence 32 that is used to code the addressin the address-coding pattern and positions in the position-codingpattern. The sequence 32 comprises 512 values 33, which each are either“0”, “1”, “2” or “3”. An arbitrary subsequence 34, 35 with five valuesmay unambiguously define a sequence value that corresponds to theposition of the subsequence in the sequence 32. Each subsequence appearsonly once in the sequence. Thus, the first subsequence 34 corresponds tothe sequence value “0” and the second subsequence 35 corresponds to thesequence value “1”. Sequences of this kind are described in“Pseudo-Random Sequences and Arrays” by F. Jessi MacWilliams and Neil J.A. Sloane in “Proceedings of the IEEE Vol. 64 No. Dec. 12, 1976”.

[0059]FIG. 5 shows part of the address-coding pattern in the addressarea 3 in FIG. 1. The address-coding pattern consists of a matrix 20with symbols 6. The columns 36 in the matrix 20 consist of subsequencesof the sequence that has been described above in connection with FIG. 4,in which the values have been converted to symbols.

[0060] The recording of an address from an address-coding pattern in theaddress area 3 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 5.When the user unit 14 is passed across the address-coding pattern in theaddress area 3, an image of a first address portion 20 is recorded, withtwenty five (i.e., five times five) symbols 6 arranged in columns 36,which each constitute a subsequence of the sequence 32. Each of thesymbols 6 is one of the four different symbols that are shown in FIG. 3.Each of the symbols 6 consists of a marking that is displaced, inrelation to a virtual raster point, in one of four directions. Thedistance between crossings in the virtual raster is 0.3 millimeters,according to this embodiment of the invention. Each marking is displaced0.05 millimeters from its corresponding virtual raster point, while thesize of a marking is 0.03 millimeters. The image-processing means 9converts the subsequences 36 in the matrix 20 to subsequences 39 withvalues 40. Each subsequence 39 with values 40 corresponds to a sequencevalue 27 corresponding to the position in a sequence with 512 values,where each value is either “0”, “1”, “2” or “3”. If an image isrecorded, which is displaced one row in the matrix 20, sequence valuescorresponding to the next position in the sequence may be obtained. Theuser unit 14 may convert the subsequences 39 to sequence values 27.Subsequently, the user unit 14 may calculate data values 26 as thedifference modulo 1024 between the sequence values 27 for adjoiningcolumns. By the sequence values 27 increasing to the same extent foreach column if the recorded image is displaced in the direction of thecolumn, the data values, which equal the difference between the sequencevalues, may be independent of the height at which the image is recorded.Then, the data values 26 may be converted to binary values and the eightleast significant bits in each character value may be converted tocharacters 11 which are stored in the memory 10 while the two mostsignificant bits from four adjoining character values are used asposition for the columns. Thus, a total of 256 different characters canthus be coded. The characters 11 may constitute part of the address.

[0061]FIG. 6 shows part of the position-coding pattern in the writingarea 2 in FIG. 1. The first matrix 61 in FIG. 6 is the smallest matrixthat unambiguously defines a position. The position-coding pattern inthe writing area 2 may be made up of symbols 62 like those shown in FIG.3. The difference between the symbols 62 in the writing area 2 and thesymbols 6 in the address area 3 may be that the symbols in the addressarea 3 are larger than the symbols in the writing area 2. In theposition-coding pattern, the four different symbol values may be used tocode a binary bit in each of two orthogonal directions. Thus, the fourdifferent symbol values, 0, 1, 2, and 3, may code the four different bitcombinations (0, 0), (0, 1), (1, 0), and (1, 1), respectively, where thefirst digit in each bit combination relates to a first direction and thesecond digit relates to a second direction which is orthogonal to thefirst direction. When a user unit 14 records the first matrix 61 in FIG.6, it may then be converted to a second matrix 63 with values 64, whichdefines the x coordinate, and to a third matrix 65 with values 66, whichdefines the y coordinate, based on the above relationship between symbolvalues and bit combinations. The second matrix 63 and the third matrix65 contain subsequences 67 with values which may each be either “0” or“1”. In the third matrix 65, the subsequences 67 may constitute rows inthe matrix while the subsequences may constitute columns in the secondmatrix 63. Each of the subsequences 67 may be part of a writing areasequence similar to the sequence 32 shown in FIG. 4. Thus, eachsubsequence 67 may have a unique sequence value. Each of the matrices63, 65 with values may be converted to a set of five sequence valuesSx₁-Sx₅ and Sy₁-Sy₅, respectively, which define the position of thedifferent subsequences 67 in the sequence. Then the difference betweenadjoining sequence values may be calculated, resulting in two sets offour difference values Dx₁-Dx₄ and Dy₁-Dy₄, respectively, whereDx_(n)=Sx_(n+1)−Sx_(n) modulo R, where R is the number of uniquesubsequences in the writing area sequence and Dy_(n)=Sy_(n+1)−Sy_(n)modulo R. Subsequently, the difference values may be used to generate anx coordinate and a y coordinate.

[0062]FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the contents in the address area 3.The address area may contain a communication part 22 which specifieswhich communication medium is to be used, a character part 23 whichspecifies the address, a code part 24 which specifies a public key whichcan be used to encrypt a message that has been written manually in thewriting area 2, and a position part 25 which defines a partial code areain the writing area. The receiver defined by the address may decrypt themessage that has been encrypted with the public key.

[0063] According to a preferred embodiment, the product may constitute apage in a publication, such as a newspaper. For instance, the writingarea 2 and the address area 3 may be part of an advertisement offeringreaders to buy a product. The writing area 2 is intended for enteringthe address where the product is to be sent. When a user begins to enterinformation in the writing area 2, the CCD records images which aretransmitted to the image processing means 9. The user unit 14 may bearranged so that the recorded images at least contain such a number ofsymbols that the position on the sheet of paper can be determined. Theimage processing means 9 may recognize that the pattern in the imagecorresponds to a position-coding pattern and may convert the pattern ina submatrix to a position that is stored in a position sequence in thememory 10. As long as the pen point 21 records that the pen point 21 ispressed down, new images may be recorded. If the user interrupts hiswriting and then once more begins to write in another position than theone where he stopped, the position sequence will define a discontinuouscurve.

[0064] When the user scans the reading head across the address area 3,images are recorded and sent to the image processing means 9, whichrecognizes that the pattern in the image corresponds to theaddress-coding pattern in the address area 3. The image processing means9 may convert the symbols in the recorded image to characters, which maybe stored in a string of characters in the memory 10. The conversionfrom symbols 4, 6, 62 to characters has been described above. When thepen point 21 no longer records a pressure, the recording of images maybe terminated. The position sequences stored in the memory 10, which areassociated with the area that is specified by the position part 25, maybe encrypted by means of the public key, defined by the code part 24,and sent to the address defined by the character part 23. According to apreferred embodiment of the present invention, an identification numbermay also be transmitted with the encrypted position sequence. Theidentification number is unique for each user unit 14. A receiver canidentify the customer by means of the identification number.

[0065] According to a preferred embodiment, the user unit 14 maydistinguish the different parts in the address area 3 with separatingcharacters. Alternatively, the number of characters in each part of theaddress area 3 may be predetermined. The user unit 14 may thus easilydetermine when part of the address area is finished.

[0066]FIG. 8 shows schematically how a user unit 14 and a productaccording to the invention can be used. A user 41 may input a message ina writing area on a product by means of a user unit 42, as describedabove. The user unit 42 may send encrypted position sequences togetherwith an identification number to a receiver 44, who is a florist, forexample, via a communication link 43. The position sequence maycorrespond to a handwritten address with a greeting. The receiver 44 maythen send flowers and the greeting to the handwritten address. Thereceiver 44 may then consult a database 46 via a communication link 45.In this example, the database 46 is not located with the receiver 45.The receiver 44 may obtain information from the database thus allowingthe receiver to send an invoice to the user 41 (as indicated by thedashed line 47, or the invoice is sent from the database to the user 41,which is indicated by the dashed line 48), whereupon the receiver 44obtains payment from the database 48.

[0067] An alternative field of application is to enter the answer to aquestion in a competition in the writing area 2 in the product 1. Whenthe user 41 then scans the user unit 14 across the address area 3, theanswer entered is transmitted to the receiver together with the userunit's 14 identity. Then the receiver can in the same way as aboveconsult the database to find out the identity of the user unit 14 andsend prize money, if any, to the owner.

[0068]FIG. 9 illustrates how information from images recorded atdifferent heights in the address area 3 may be processed. The firstimage 50 contains five times five symbols. The symbols 51 are convertedto symbol values as described in connection with FIG. 5. The symbolvalues in the columns are then converted to sequence valuescorresponding to the position of the subsequence in the sequence. Thefive subsequences with symbols corresponding to the columns in the firstimage 50 are thus converted to a first set of five sequence values 52.The first set of five sequence values 52 is then converted to a firstset of difference values 53, which in turn is converted to characters inthe same way as described in connection with FIG. 5.

[0069] When a third image 56 containing five times five symbols isrecorded, the five subsequences consisting of five symbols are convertedto a second set of five sequence values 54. The second set of fivesequence values 54 is then converted to a second set of differencevalues 55, which in turn is converted to characters in the same way asdescribed in connection with FIG. 5. Each of the sequence values 54 inthe second set is four units greater than the sequence values 52 in thefirst set since they are fetched further down in the sequences of whichthe sequence parts constitute a part. However, each of the differencevalues 53 in the first set of difference values is the same as thecorresponding difference value in the second set of difference values.Thus, the difference values are independent of at what height in theaddress area 57 the images are recorded.

[0070]FIG. 10 shows an address area 31 according to an alternativeembodiment of the present invention. As illustrated, the address area 31is divided into a number of subareas 37, which each may comprise aposition-coding pattern. Each subarea 37 may thus define a partial codearea on a virtual surface. The subareas 37 may be separated byseparating fields 38. The user unit 14 may have in its memoryinformation about which character is associated with a certain partialcode area on the virtual surface. When the user unit 14 records aseparating field, it can therefore determine that it has reached thenext character in the address area. The drawback of this embodiment isthat the address may be less compact.

[0071] The above embodiments are to be considered examples only. Theabove embodiments can be varied in a number of ways without departingfrom the inventive idea. For instance, the communication device and thereading device can be an integrated unit. Each symbol can define anumber with a base other than four. It is within the scope of theinvention that the address area merely comprises the code field, theuser unit, for example, being adapted to always use the samecommunication medium. The size of the address-coding pattern thatunambiguously defines a part of the address is not necessarily criticalto the invention. Thus, depending on how the address is defined, thesize of the address-coding pattern may vary considerably. The size ofthe markings and their displacement in relation to the virtual rastermay be different from that mentioned above.

[0072] Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practiceof the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specificationand examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope andspirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.

[0073] Concurrently filed with the application for this patent areapplications entitled Systems and Methods for Information Storage basedon Swedish Application No. 0000947-2, filed Mar. 21, 2000, and U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/207,839, filed May 30, 2000; SecuredAccess Using a Coordinate System based on Swedish Application No.0000942-3, filed Mar. 21, 2000, and U.S. Provisional Application No.60/207,850 filed on May 30, 2000; System and Method for Printing byUsing a Position Coding Pattern based on Swedish Application No.0001245-0, filed on Apr. 5, 2000, and U.S. Provisional Application No.60/210,651, filed on Jun. 9, 2000; Apparatus and Methods Relating toImage Coding based on Swedish Application No. 0000950-6, filed on Mar.21, 2000, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/207,838, filed on May30, 2000; Apparatus and Methods for Determining Spatial Orientationbased on Swedish Application No. 0000951-4, filed on Mar. 21, 2000, andU.S. Provisional Application No. 60/207,844, filed on May 30, 2000;System and Method for Determining Positional Information based onSwedish Application No. 0000949-8, filed Mar. 21, 2000, and U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/207,885, filed on May 30, 2000; Methodand System for Transferring and Displaying Graphical Objects based onSwedish Application No. 0000941-5, filed Mar. 21, 2000, and U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/208,165, filed May 31, 2000; OnlineGraphical Message Service based on Swedish Application No. 0000944-9,filed Mar. 21, 2000, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/207,881,filed May 30, 2000; Method and System for Digitizing Freehand GraphicsWith User-Selected Properties based on Swedish Application No.0000945-6, filed Mar. 21, 2000, U.S. Provisional Application No.60/207,882, filed May 30, 2000; Data Form Having a Position-CodingPattern Detectable by an Optical Sensor based on Swedish Application No.0001236-9, filed Apr. 5, 2000, and U.S. Provisional Application No.60/208,167, filed May 31, 2000; Method and Apparatus for ManagingValuable Documents based on Swedish Application No. 0001252-6, filedApr. 5, 2000, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/210,653 filed Jun.9, 2000; Method and Apparatus for Information Management based onSwedish Application No. 0001253-4 filed Apr. 5, 2000, and U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/210,652, filed Jun. 9, 2000; Device andMethod for Communication based on Swedish Application No. 0000940-7,filed Mar. 21, 2000, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/208,166,filed May 31, 2000; Information-Related Devices and Methods based onSwedish Application No. 0001235-1, filed Apr. 5, 2000, and U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/210,647, filed Jun. 9, 2000; Processingof Documents based on Swedish Application No. 0000954-8, filed Mar. 21,2000, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/207,849, filed May 30,2000; Secure Signature Checking System based on Swedish Application No.0000943-1, filed Mar. 21, 2000, and U.S. Provisional Application No.60/207,880, filed May 30, 2000; Identification of Virtual RasterPattern, based on Swedish Application No. 0001235-1, filed Apr. 5, 2000,and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/210,647, filed Jun. 9, 2000, andSwedish Application No. 0004132-7, filed Nov. 10, 2000, and U.S.Provisional Application No. ______, filed Jan. 12, 2001; and a new U.S.Provisional Application entitled Communications Services Methods andSystems.

[0074] The technical disclosures of each of the above-listed U.S.applications, U.S. provisional applications, and Swedish applicationsare hereby incorporated herein by reference. As used herein, theincorporation of a “technical disclosure” excludes incorporation ofinformation characterizing the related art, or characterizing advantagesor objects of this invention over the related art.

[0075] In the foregoing Description of Preferred Embodiments, variousfeatures of the invention are grouped together in a single embodimentfor purposes of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosureis not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimedinvention requires more features than are expressly recited in eachclaim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie inless than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus,the following claims are hereby incorporated into this Description ofthe Preferred Embodiments, with each claim standing on its own as aseparate preferred embodiment of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A product for electronic transmission ofhandwritten information, comprising: at least one writing area for thehandwritten information, wherein the writing area comprises aposition-coding pattern comprising a plurality of first symbols andwherein an arbitrary position area of a predetermined first size of theposition-coding pattern unambiguously defines a position on the product;and an address area indicating an address to which the handwritteninformation is to be sent, wherein the address area comprises anaddress-coding pattern comprising a plurality of second symbols andwherein an arbitrary address portion of a predetermined second size ofthe address-coding pattern unambiguously defines part of the address. 2.A product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predetermined first size ofthe arbitrary position area required to unambiguously determine aposition from the position-coding pattern is at least the same size asthe predetermined second size of the arbitrary address portion requiredto unambiguously define part of the address from the address-codingpattern.
 3. A product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the part of theaddress is an individual character.
 4. A product as claimed in claim 1,wherein the address area further comprises information that defines acommunication medium for transmission of the handwritten information. 5.A product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the position-coding patterndefines coordinates within a partial code area, which is part of alarger virtual code area, and the address area further comprisesinformation that defines the coordinates for at least part of thewriting area.
 6. A product as claimed in claim 1, wherein theaddress-coding pattern comprises a plurality of sequence portions basedon the plurality of second symbols and wherein the arbitrary addressportion that is required to define part of the address comprises apredetermined number of sequence portions of a predetermined length. 7.A product as claimed in claim 6, wherein each sequence portion comprisesat least one subsequence of a sequence and wherein each subsequence isof a predetermined length and unambiguously defines a sequence value,which corresponds to the position of the subsequence in the sequence. 8.A product as claimed in claim 7, wherein a difference between a sequencevalue defined by a subsequence of a first sequence portion and asequence value defined by a subsequence of a second sequence portion isconstant and independent of parts of the sequence portions from whichsubsequences are selected when the subsequences are fetched fromcorresponding parts of the sequence portions.
 9. A product as claimed inclaim 8, wherein the difference value is represented as a binary value,a first part of the binary value representing a character and a secondpart of the binary value representing part of a position indication forthe sequence portions in a matrix.
 10. A product as claimed in claim 1,wherein the second symbols in the address-coding pattern are of adifferent size from the size of the first symbols in the position-codingpattern.
 11. A product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second symbolsin the address-coding pattern are arranged with an interspace differentfrom that of the first symbols in the position-coding pattern.
 12. Aproduct as claimed in claim 1, wherein the address area also codes apublic key, wherein a receiver specified by the address can decode amessage that has been coded with the public key.
 13. A product asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the address area is divided into a pluralityof code fields each of which codes a partial code area of a virtual codearea, each partial code area corresponding to a character.
 14. A productas claimed in claim 13, wherein the code fields are separated byseparation fields means.
 15. An apparatus for electronicallytransmitting handwritten information comprising: a reading head adaptedto optically record images from a surface; a memory; means forconverting the recorded image to at least one position and storing theposition in the memory based on a position-coding pattern contained inthe recorded image which codes at least one position; means forconverting the recorded image to at least one character and storing thecharacter in the memory based on an address-coding pattern contained inthe recorded image which codes at least one character; and means fortransmitting at least part of positions stored in the memory to anaddress corresponding to characters stored in the memory.
 16. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 15, further comprising a pen point,wherein the reading head is adapted to record images when the pen pointis pressed against a surface.
 17. A apparatus as claimed in claim 15further comprising: means for converting a first part of charactersstored in the memory to an address and a second part of charactersstored in the memory to position information which defines a writingarea; and means for transmitting only positions contained in the writingarea to the address.
 18. An apparatus according to claim 15, furthercomprising means for converting recorded images of the address-codingpattern to a set of sequence portions, converting the set of sequenceportions to a set of sequence values, and converting the sequence valuesto characters based on information stored in the memory.
 19. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 15, further comprising means for enclosingan identification number when transmitting information to the addresswherein the identification number is unique for each user unit.
 20. Amethod for entering handwritten information and transmitting thehandwritten information, the method comprising: reading an input signalcorresponding to a recorded image; converting the recorded image to atleast one position and storing the position based on a position-codingpattern corresponding to the recorded image; converting the recordedimage to at least one character and storing the character based on anaddress-coding pattern corresponding to the recorded image; andtransmitting stored positions to an address corresponding to charactersstored in the memory.
 21. A method as claimed in claim 20, furthercomprising the steps of converting part of the stored characters towriting position information that defines a writing area, andtransmitting only positions contained in the writing area to theaddress.
 22. A product for electronic transmission of handwritteninformation, comprising: at least one writing area for the handwritteninformation, wherein the writing area comprises a position-codingpattern in the form of a plurality of first symbols wherein an arbitraryposition area of a predetermined size of the position-coding patternunambiguously defines a position on the product; and an address areaindicating an address to which the handwritten information is to besent, wherein the address area comprises an address-coding pattern witha plurality of second symbols, wherein an arbitrary address portion of apredetermined size of the address-coding pattern unambiguously definesan individual character.